


Hereditary

by WonderAvian



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-24 00:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderAvian/pseuds/WonderAvian
Summary: Alan plays the piccolo.Originally posted on tumblr September 19th 2016.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Hereditary

Alan is professional at playing the piccolo. He doesn’t want anyone to know that he has a piccolo so he only uses it when he is sure there is no-one around to hear him play.

It’s not that he doesn’t like playing his guitar; it’s just that he prefers listening to that sort of music instead of playing it. Besides, his immediate older brother Gordon was always more suited to playing guitar than he ever was.

The reason he hides the fact that he can play the piccolo so well is because he is afraid of what his brothers would think and he feels he would probably shrivel away and die if Kayo were to find out that he plays such a tiny and shrill sounding instrument.

Alan likes to play the piccolo not just for fun, but as an emotional outlet as well. If he feels happy, he’ll play something cheerful and upbeat. If he is feeling down, he’ll come up with something a bit lower and more haunting.

His favourite songs to play include the title theme from _The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker_ for its light, carefree tune and the dramatic main themes from _Zombie Apocalypse_ and _Alien Storm._

Late one night when everyone else is asleep, Alan is doing his homework in the comms room, alone, when Scott and Virgil finally get back from a long and hard rescue. It’s clear they’re both exhausted, but they’re arguing about something that happened and it looks pretty heated.

Neither of the angry, shouting men have noticed Alan, who is looking anxiously looking between the two of them and wondering if he should try to let himself be known and attempt to stop them fighting, or keep quiet and hightail it out of there. He’s never seen his brothers this angry with each other before and it’s freaking him out.

Alan is still wondering what he should do when Scott notices he’s there, and because he is already angry and on edge from arguing with Virgil for the last half-hour he snaps at Alan, demanding why he hasn’t already done his homework and orders that he leaves immediately so Scott can talk to Virgil without having Alan eavesdropping on things he shouldn’t know.

Scott is overcome with guilt and remorse seconds later but Alan, already nervous, absolutely drops everything and flees, feeling _hurt_ and _confused_ and _betrayed_ by his older brother’s furious words, because Scott has never snapped at him before in such a way. Scott tries to go after Alan but Virgil stops him with a firm hand on his shoulder and a cold look in his eyes, and Scott backs down.

Once Alan reaches his room he slams the door shut, standing there in shock before jumping onto his bed for once and buries his face in his pillow, muffling his sobs.

No-one hears him thus no-one comes up to see him, not even Virgil to ask if he is alright and personally apologise on Scott's behalf or Scott himself to apologise for his actions.

Alan eventually stops crying and tries to sleep but finds pretty quickly that he can’t. So after waiting a few more minutes Alan crawls under his bed to carefully pull away one of the floorboards where his piccolo case is hidden. Alan takes his piccolo out and plays a rather hesitant b flat.

He listens for about a minute to make sure that no-one heard the single note. Breathing a sigh of relief when he hears nothing, Alan leans against his bed and continues to play a low, sad, haunting tune that is quite hard to play on such a usually high instrument such as the piccolo.

Alan gets so caught up in playing the song that he lets his guard down. Just as he finishes the song, his door slowly creaks open to reveal Gordon standing there with an unreadable expression on his face.

Alan notices him standing there and absolutely freaks, jumping about three feet into the air, Alan lands rather awkwardly back on the floor, but not without hitting his elbow on his bedside table, and he drops his piccolo, gasping.

Gordon crosses the room and carefully picks up the piccolo, placing it on the table without looking at it and takes Alan’s arm in his own. Examining little brother’s elbow in the dim light, the swimmer can see that Alan has managed to scrape it just slightly on the edge of the table.

Alan, feeling embarrassed, tries not to let the tears that have welled up in the corner of his eyes start flowing. Fully expecting his immediate older brother to laugh at him or say something demeaning in an effort to lighten the situation, Alan blinks furiously and turns his head away.

Gordon however does nothing of the sort and goes to the bathroom to get a slightly wet washcloth to clean the scrapes on little brother’s arm with. Alan has to tell himself he shouldn’t be surprised, because really, would he have expected it to happen any differently? Big brothers would always worry about him, no matter who they are and Gordon, even though he didn’t look it, was no exception.

Except Gordon didn’t smother him. Unlike the three eldest brothers, he was the only one who Alan could really consider a sibling and not a parental figure. And even though his expression did betray concern, it was not as much as another brother might portray.

It was simply, _little brother is upset and has hurt his arm. Clean his arm, talk to him or keep quiet if need be. Do the right thing in being a good older bro and make sure he feels better._

Gordon finishes cleaning Alan’s arm and chucks the cloth back into the bathroom. It misses, hitting the door handle but the swimmer makes no move to get it. Instead he gently asks Alan what happened to make him feel and react this way, because it is more than obvious that the youngest member of the household is not ok. He doesn’t say anything about the piccolo.

Alan tells Gordon about the argument Virgil and Scott were having and relays what Scott said to him. Alan withdraws slightly when he recalls just what Scott had shouted at him and picks at a thread in the carpet.

Gordon bows his head, for this was what he had been fearing. When he lifts his head, Alan can see Gordon’s usually bright amber eyes are clouded.

"I’m going to fight him. I mean, Jesus Al. That just isn’t right. Scott shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. Being angry from fighting with Virgil is no excuse." _  
_

Alan just shook his head.

"That’ll only make it worse. Don’t fight Scott on my behalf. He’ll come around." Alan pulls a thread out of the carpet. "Hopefully."

Gordon sighed.

Lifting Alan so they are both sitting on the bed, Gordon wraps his arms around his only younger brother in a tight hug, and Alan hugs him right back, positioning his head over Gordon’s left shoulder as the swimmer strokes comforting circles into Alan’s thin back.

They sit there like that for a while before Alan pulls back, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. Gordon takes this as the right moment to gently inquire about the piccolo.

Alan shrugs.

"I just like playing it."

Gordon raises an eyebrow and gestures for him to elaborate. Alan glances around his room, battling with conflicted feelings, thoughts and emotions before settling his gaze back on his brother.

"It belonged to Mom," Alan begins with a sigh. "I don’t know whether Dad knew about it or not and whether it would have been right for me to take it," he adds when he sees Gordon’s expression, "but I was in her room one day and I was just looking around and I saw it lying there, and I – " Alan pauses, struggling with what to say next.

"I don’t even remember her. So I thought that if I took it and learnt how to play then maybe her memory could live on a bit, and I…" Alan takes a shuddering breath. "I could learn a bit more about her."

Gordon rubs a hand over his face and Alan tenses, but when Gordon looks at him again he is smiling.

Gordon asks that Alan play the piccolo for him and it takes a moment, but Alan agrees. Gordon hands the piccolo to Alan, and Alan plays the title theme from _The Wind Waker._

Gordon closes his eyes to listen.

Later the following morning, Alan is flipping through some holographic displays of his homework assignment while he slowly eats his cereal, when Scott comes up from behind Alan and wraps his arms around him, burying his face in baby brother’s shoulder, sobbing his eyes out and crying apologies.

Alan has to tell Scott he forgives him several times before Scott stops talking, and even then Scott will just not let go.

Opening his eyes, Alan can see Virgil smiling softly at the sight, and Gordon wears a rueful grin and gives Alan the thumbs up.


End file.
